-Mr. Bo Planters

Dear Mr. Planters,

I’m glad you asked. A lot of people don’t know that “pretty please” originated from the French phrase “prix de plis”, which literally translates as “price of pleats”.

In the late eighteenth century, homosexuality was widely persecuted in France. Gay men needed a way to discreetly identify one another in society. So they came up with various code words and phrases which were meaningless to most people, but which fellow homosexuals instantly recognized as sexual advances.

One of these phrases was “prix de plis”. Because no heterosexual man would be expected to know the price of pleated pants, they would in most cases simply shrug when they heard the phrase. But a gay man would recognize it as an offer of oral sex, to which they would reply “dix-huit francs” if they chose to accept.

Americans heard the phrase from French immigrants and didn’t know what it meant. They simply saw that those who spoke it tended to be treated favorably by the other party, sometimes even receiving money or other valuables before the two would walk away together. The Americans began to use it themselves when making requests of one another, mispronouncing the quote as “pretty please” instead of “prix de plis”. Many Americans still use the phrase to this day, never suspecting that they’re actually using an old French code to offer oral sex.

Glad I could help!

JC

P.S. Other phrases which originated as offers to perform oral sex include “I pledge allegiance”, “irregardless”, and “Fallout Boy rocks”.